Guest DJ

Guest DJ: Martin Solveig

Martin Solveig is responsible for some of the biggest hits on the dance floor, and the radio. With an incredible ear for music, he stands out in dance music as an extremely talented producer. With songs like "Hello" (featuring Dragonette), and "The Night Out," he's also produced for Madonna. But the talent doesn't stop there. If you've ever heard one of his sets at a festival or club - he knows how to get a crowd moving.

Martin teamed up with iHeartRadio to Guest DJ a radio station that's perfect for him. The station not only includes music from dance music stars like Madeon, Diplo, and Krewella, but also includes artists like Pheonix and Lorde.

Check out Martin's top ten tracks (in no particular order) and find out why he chose them for his station below.

1. "Trying to be Cool" by Phoenix

“I love Phoenix for many reasons. First – well, it’s not very important that they are french, it doesn’t hurt! What I like is they’ve been there for a very long time, which is such a great achievement for an indie rock band, where it’s really difficult to stay cool. And I think the title of this song is so funny too because I think it translates a lot to what it is to be an indie rock band. Also I’ve seen them at Coachella this year closing the main stage, and it was so good. So the combination of all this makes me think their last album is a little bit underrated and worth checking [out]!"

2. "Royals" by Lorde

"Lorde is quite the opposite. I think she’s 17, she’s from New Zealand. When I first listened to her songs, I was feeling like she could be the next Adele. She’s really a singer. Now, I can totally feel that she has a lot more - something a bit more edgy, and obviously super young about her, because she’s a teenager. And when you listen to her lyrics, there is a lot of that, there is a lot of being 16 or 15 because some of the songs she wrote, she wrote when she was really young. She’s super talented, and I gladly discovered her about 6/7 months ago. I’m really happy that now the rest of the world is picking [her up]. And I think she’s [making] her debut in the U.S., so it’s the right time to discover this artist."

3. "Hey Now" by Martin Solveig & The Cataracs feat. Kyle

"This is my most current one. It’s a Californian one I’d say, since it’s a collaboration with Californian producers The Cataracs, and Kyle (the guest vocal) is from Ventura. So, it was definitely part of my L.A. cycle, and I’ve spent quite some time in L.A. this year. So I guess it’s been a little bit influential to me."

"They are Norwegian and they’re actually originals. They have a unique way of making music and delivering it. They are producers, but they sing also. It’s technically, say, indie dance kind of music, but it’s on the edge of indie rock too. It has definitely a French feel to it. It’s somewhere between Breakbot and Pheonix as well, you can feel the influence. I was very glad that they remixed “Hey Now,” and they did such a great job at that. We have a very good connection. They are super super famous in the blog world, but they still need more awareness from people outside of the blogs. So that’s why I picked the occasion to alert everyone!"

"Very good song, but most importantly the occasion to talk about what’s next, and to talk about two very very big, and still upcoming talent. Of course, Dillon has been there for a couple of years now, and we hear a lot. And he makes himself very visible on Twitter, which is one of the reasons everyone loves him, but he’s also a music producer. I still think that he has a lot of things ahead of him, plus he’s a good friend. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs is my personal favorite among the new U.K. scene, in which you can add Rudimental, and all these guys. He just released a complete album, which is really awesome, and there is a lot of personality in his work. Also probably because he sings the song, it’s like a full project. There is a lot of creativity in what he does, so he’s definitely one of the guys worth checking."

6. "Michael Jordan" by Carnage

"This is probably the most dance-y or one of the biggest pure club tracks that I selected in the top 10. Again, it’s new talent, young talent, from California. Another crazy one – I love all the crazy ones! This one is a very very crazy one. He made himself famous by being one of the guys who invented, in a way, trap. And now he’s moving to a different style of music, including 128 [BPM] like that. I like the direction of this because it's, to me, a very interesting mix of urban and dance influence in a way that is quite fresh. That’s what I like about Carnage."

7. "Technicolor" by Madeon

That’s the new one from Madeon. Madeon is really close to me for many reasons. First, we have this common track ["The Night Out"], because this remix of the “The Night Out” has been very important for both of us. It’s been a popular remix, and it got a lot of airplays around the world. So it sort of [got] our names associated. And we got to know each other since; we didn’t really know each other at the moment of the remix. And I think there is a lot of artistic connection between us. And, of course when I see him, I can’t help thinking of me when I was 18, because I think he’s 18 or 19 – and I could probably be his dad, technically! (laughs) So good connection, and very good track, “Technicolor” – it’s worth checking!"

8. "Blow" by Laidback Luke & Martin Solveig

"This is pure fun, basically. What happened is that we were touring in Australia with Laidback Luke, back 9 months ago. We had a couple of spare dates, so I booked a studio in Sydney, and I invited Luke to join me for a session; we know each other way back. We had a really good time in the studio, and we were making jokes about “blow.” There are many jokes – I’m not going to tell the jokes exactly – but it’s just four letters that are full of meaning for any kind of jokes. So we started to write, and work on the track. I wanted to push myself in this direction that I don’t use a lot, which is that I play these records, but I rarely produce these records, which are like pure club, festival kind of tracks. And I love to do that too. So I thought being with Luke in the studio was the occasion to go that way. That’s one part of the idea. The second part of the idea was that I was going to bring the narrative out of that, so I came up with this, sort of, “Blow” joke. And then I have also written a story for the video – which I’m very excited about. So I’m making a lot of images for that right now. It’s going to take me a little bit of time because the more I can collect from different shows, and it’s not really about taking images from shows, there’s a real story to it. I can’t tell too much, it’s going to be finished in October. I’m just going to say watch out for the video for this one."

9. "Live For the Night" by Krewella

"Krewella is a band that I like very much, as much for their music, and for their personality, and for what they are bringing to the scene in general. At this very moment, I’m hearing here and there, I won’t say complaints, but just people mentioning – and they are very right about that - that everything is a little bit the same in our world. A lot of DJs producing a little bit the same kind of records, a little bit with the same kind of image, with the same kind of everything. So I’m very very interested in anything that stands out, and Krewella is a very good example of that, because it’s like, of course an electronic act, pure dance music, but at the same time it’s also a band, the girls perform on stage, they really go for it. They have a lot to say, they have a lot of personality, and I’m really happy that they get all the success that they deserve now. So, it’s definitely to me, one of the acts that make the scene evolve in the direction that I’m interested in."

10. "Express Yourself" by Diplo

"It’s exactly the same idea, with complete different music, and complete different story. I think Diplo is just right about what he does. I like that he goes 100% for a unique direction that is really completely his. He’s doing this under his name, he’s doing this also with Major Lazer, of course, which is also to me a little bit of a revolution in terms of how this project is manufactured. How he sort of has so many talents interacting to create something which is so good and so messy at the same time. And then the shows that I saw at Coachella, and also in Cannes recently, are the perfect translation of the album into a show. So much fun, and again, this is definitely one of the acts that are pushing the envelope right now."